


The Killing Blow

by viklikesfic (v_angelique)



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-31
Updated: 2010-01-31
Packaged: 2017-10-07 01:17:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/v_angelique/pseuds/viklikesfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spock's not just protective when someone threatens a member of the crew.  He's kind of creepy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Killing Blow

There are no particularly interesting extenuating circumstances when it happens. Spock is not a mirror image of himself, nor has he ingested some alien substance or contracted some alien disease. He is not experiencing pon farr. He and the navigator are not lovers. There is nothing unusual at all to this away mission, except that a cruel slave trader has picked out the youngest, weakest, most vulnerable member of the crew and has tried to kidnap him, to violate him, and to destroy his sense of safety. And so Jim finds his first officer in trader's tent, holding the silver knife dripping with blood.

There are cleaner ways to kill. There are more rational ways to protect. With two fingers and a thumb, Spock can disable any humanoid form, but this afternoon he chooses the sharp efficiency of the knife, the finality of a slice across the jugular vein. He makes certain that Chekov has left the tent first, that he does not watch the crass exposure of Spock's emotions. Aboard the Enterprise, too, holding Jim over that console, he could have used the simple Vulcan pinch. But rarely, Spock needs more than that disengaged maneuver. Occasionally, he needs to feel the pulse of life beneath his fingers, and once, just this once, he needed to take it away.

They do not blame him.

The paperwork is dealt with. The greater than necessary force explained away, just this once, and Jim finds it acceptable, for the Spock he found in the tent was no killer, nor was he out of control of his emotions. He stood coolly, calmly, at the centre of the tent, and handed the knife to Jim, stained with the blood of the man who tried to take away Chekov's freedom and dignity, simply because he was measured lesser. Afterward, he shows no excess of emotion, even as Nyota holds him and begs him to talk, to cry, _something_. He describes the man's death in logical terms, though his actions were governed by something else. It was logical to fall victim to emotion on that afternoon, logical to forget logic. Later, Sulu grips Spock's hand firmly in both of his own and thanks him. Spock merely inclines his head, goes on about his duties. That is the way of things.


End file.
